Hope For Life
by CousinKitchen
Summary: (A/U)Rem is forced to spend her life on the streets and just tries to live life day to day, that is until she meets these two twin boys who have seen their share of troubles...Can they find a better reality?
1. The Pain of Sins

Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Trigun or any of it's marvelous characters. I'm just a lowly writer looking for reviews.

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CousinKitchen:

AH! Where in the world did this come from?!?!?!?! I'm sorry if I disgrace Trigun or any of it's characters, but I had to write something. I just sat down at the computer and for some odd reason, I wrote this story.

To tell the truth. I usually don't write this type of stuff. I'm not what you would call a depressing person, but I guess you can say that I was in a miserable mood at the time.

This is only the first chapter and it might be a tad confusing, but if you really want me to continue, just review and tell me and I'll see what I can do!

By the way, I'm not too sure on what to rate this. I normally don't cuss or have sexual scenes or anything like that, but I did use the words whore and slut. There is also scenes of domestic violence and there will probably be more of that and the suggestion of drug use later on. So I rated it R for that, if it's still considered PG-13 I'll be surprised.

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Hope For Life

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Chapter One

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The Pain of Sins

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The city streets were dark, cold, and uninviting, but that didn't stop the thriving night life. The night was like an addiction. Each person of the street climbed out of their day sanctuaries to do their nightly job. No matter how filthy, it was easy to find a jack of every trade.

It was on such a night that a tall form of woman sauntered down one of the rare, near empty streets. Her spiked heels sent clacking echoes into the unfriendly night. Her long black hair was tied up into a tight pony tail and her tight, blue, form-fitting dress restrained her from hurrying any faster than she already was.

She would occasionally glance at her surrounds, but didn't really show any fear of anything bad happening to her. Her brown eyes cold and distant. All the life that used to be there gone, only leaving a hapless shell to wander alone in the cruel reality called life.

She was one of the lowly creatures forced to take part in the hellish night of the dingy city. Long ago, her life was a dream, but with the death of her husband and the loss of her job, all dreams were shattered, leaving her bitter and broken. Rem Saverem was now an empty shell. Being forced on to the streets opened her eyes to a new reality. One in which she wished she could escape, but knew she would never have the chance. She would have to sell her body every night until her death.

She continued down the road, never meeting the eyes of the rotting homeless in the gutters. That was the future that she wished not to witness for the moment. Though she was no longer innocent, she still wanted to hang on to her vain hopes that maybe she would be saved from her own personal hell.

She maneuvered around and in-between the lampposts hoping to reach her destination soon, but collided with another woman just as scantily clad. This woman had short, messy, blonde hair, heavy make-up, and a tight revealing black leather dress on. Though it was more of just a piece of cloth covering the essentials.

"Well hello Rem. I thought you were working the east corner tonight?" The short bony-faced blonde chided. "Johnny's going to be mad that you're not working your corner..."

Rem sneered. "I did work tonight, it's just all inexperienced newcomers were more enticing tonight. It was dead after they were all taken, so I left..."

"Must be getting old Rem." The blonde chuckled as she took a drag of her cigarette and ended in a fit of coughs.

The dark-haired woman glared. "At least I don't show my diseases, whore."

"Slut." The other woman hissed as she walked off.

It would seem that those two women detested each other, but they grew to have a sort of kinship in their line of work. The same exchange would always be given at each meeting, but it only showed that things remained the same and would always do so. That was until Rem reached her "home".

The slender shadow of the brown-eyed woman fell across the dilapidated door of an old apartment building that looked a few years passed it's condemned date. The door opened with a resounding squeak, alerting any inhabitants that she had made it back for the night. She was just about to cross the threshold when a soft rustling sound came from the gutter right beside her.

Yes, normally she would have just brushed the sound as just another a sleeping bum, but for some odd reason, this one drew her to it. She lightly stepped from the stairs leading into the building and walked towards the ally-way in which the sound had scurried towards. It was the sound of small, bare-foot feet. The dim yellow light given off from the towering lamppost, reflected into two pairs of small eyes, one green and one blue.

The pair of blue eyes seemed full of fury and were protecting a set of worried green. "Get away from us!" A small, yet determined voice yelled.

Rem actually took a step back in surprise, but continued to advance nevertheless. "Who are you two, and what are you doing in a place like this?" She asked in the most gentle voice she could.

The green eyes seemed to relax a bit, but the blue stood firm. They both stepped a little more into the light, showing their blonde hair. "We don't need to tell you anything! You're just some woman from the street!"

This saddened the brown-eyed woman. The words cut deep. She knew what he said was true, but does that mean that she still couldn't help them? "You can at least tell me if you're lost or not. I know this place well and can give you directions home..."

"We don't need your help!" The young boy shouted as he tried to get his brother to edge back again.

"But...Knives...we could use some help..." The green-eyed twin finally spoke up and placed a hand on his uneasy brother's shoulder. From what Rem could see, they were mirrors of each other, except for the eye color.

"Are you trying to find someone?" She took another step towards them as they started to back up into the ally-way again.

"We're not looking for anyone! We have no home! And we're just fine on our own!" The blue-eyed boy turned around and pushed his brother to run, but the boy refused to move.

"We do need help." The boy said in a barely audible voice. His brother got angry and shoved harder, but the boy still stood firm. "We do need help!" the green-eyed boy shouted in his brother's face.

Knives finally relented and stopped pushing his brother and turned to face the curious woman. "Fine." He glared back at his brother.

The timid one of the two stepped towards Rem and looked up into her eyes. Rem couldn't say she was pleased with what she saw now that the boy was in better light. From what she could tell, there were bruises and cuts all over the child. He had a big black circle around one of his eyes which was swelling and a bloody lip. "What on earth happened to you?" Rem knelt in front of him and reached out a hand to gently touch his swollen eye.

"Well..." The little boy was still too shy to talk to her and so Knives continued.

"We shouldn't really tell you, after all, you are a stranger..."

"My name is Rem Saverem. You can call me Rem. What are your names?" She smiled at the two. The green-eyed boy instantly smiled back, but his brother seemed more reluctant.

"My name is Vash and that's my brother Knives..." The young boy held out his hand. Rem looked down at his gesture in surprise, but quickly held out her own and shook hands with Vash.

"Good, now that we're acquainted, we're no longer strangers. So now can you tell me why you're out on these streets so late at night?" Rem still kept hold of Vash's hand, but had turned her attention to Knives. "Where are your parents?"

At the last question, both boys seemed to wince and look down at the ground. If the situation wasn't serious, Rem would have laughed out loud at the two doing everything in sync.

"Our mom is dead..." Vash began.

Knives slowly looked up at the surprised woman. "And the reason why we're both so beat up is because our father got drunk and decided he didn't like our faces." Rem could hear the bitterness in the boy's voice as he looked away. She really hadn't thought that he looked all to beat up, but after looking a bit harder, his injuries almost mirrored that of Vash's. Yet he still looked in better condition, as if the man barely got to touch him.

"Vash got the brunt of everything, the reason I got beaten was cause I tried to stop him. But compared to our father, we're too small." Knives' blue eyes left Rem's concerned gaze and fell to the ground. "After he tired himself out and fell asleep, we ran away..."

Rem looked at the boy's with pity in her eyes. "Does he get drunk cause he misses your mom?" She had no idea why asked the question. It wasn't really any of her business, and by the way that Knives glared at her, he thought the same thing.

"No." Was his blunt answer. and his thought was finished by Vash. "His getting drunk killed our mom. He came home in some sort of rage and beat our mother to death with a skillet. He was mad at something that happened in the bar he was at and our mom tried to calm him down. They were in the kitchen and our dad didn't like being told what to do and..."

"He got away with murder?" Rem seemed awfully surprised. She knew that the neighborhood was bad, but not so bad as to let a man get away with murder.

"No, this all happened tonight." Vash's eyes began to fill with tears. Knives walked up behind his brother and put his hand on his shoulder.

Rem couldn't believe it. Everything had gone so wrong for the boys in one night. How anyone could be so cruel was beyond her. Though she knew she wasn't one to judge. The man was probably like all the other men that she was forced to spend her nights with.

"I'll help you two." Rem smiled at them. Vash seemed elated by the news, but Knives looked anything but pleased. "I'll take you two to the hospital and get you treated, then we'll go from there."

Vash nodded with relief written in his features. Knives glared, but mumbled an okay. Rem stood up and asked for both the boys hands. "The hospital is a few blocks from here. If you look like you're with me, you'll be okay. People around here know that I can protect myself and that I have a "guardian angel" named Johnny."

The boys didn't understand at all what she meant, but they took her hands anyway.

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The three sat in the emergency room with several men and women staring at them. Rem knew most of the disapproving stares were aimed at her, but they were made even more intense by the twin boys next to her. People were probably thinking that she had done the damage.

It was horrifying just seeing Vash's face. It had looked bad in the lamplight, but it was ten times worse in the light of the hospital. The poor boy. it looked like he was beaten with a bat or something. On the way to the hospital, Rem got them to tell her exactly what had happened.

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The whole story(From Knives' POV)...

Vash and I were sitting in the living room while our mom was in the kitchen fixing dinner for our dad. Our dad worked late into the days so he would always come home late and usually drunk.

Our mom thought that we didn't know. She was pretty good at getting him to take a shower and go to bed after he had eaten. She tried hard to hide everything from us. We never even really smelled the alcohol, but we knew.

We had found out a few months earlier about this when a friend of the family had called asking for some help with something. Mom really didn't want to go, but she did and dad was supposed to be home any minute.

A few minutes later, dad came stumbling in the back door, as he usually did, and found me and Vash finishing dinner for him. A bad smell was all over him. He was mad to not find mom there, and decided that beating us was the best way to get to feel better. We luckily just got away with a few cuts, so when mom got home, she couldn't find out about it.

I guess earlier today, dad got fired. He had spent the whole day at the bar, and came home drunk at around dinner time, but more mad than ever.

I was going to the kitchen to get some water when he came in the back door and went right over to mom, who was making something in a skillet at the time, and roughly pulled her away from the counter and threw her on the floor. She just looked up at him. She tried to get him to stop yelling, but he only got more and more angry by a "weak, filthy, stupid woman who was worth nothin' but trouble and to cause him to have more burdens than needed"

She tried to get up from the floor and reached for the phone, but our dad was faster. He picked up the hot skillet and slammed it over our moms head as hard as he could, making her go unconscious. That happened right when Vash came to see what was taking me so long, and he saw it too.

Our dad still didn't stop. He just kept beating her head until it was bloody and you could see some gray stuff splattered on the floor and on the skillet. He looked down at what he had done with no expression on his face. He just stared with a crazy look in his eyes.

At that moment, Vash started to scream for mom as he ran into the room. I tried to stop him, but he was too quick. He tried shaking her, but she wouldn't move. This got our dad upset so he used both his fists and the skillet to try and shut Vash up.

I finally worked up my courage and tried to stop my dad. I did get hit a few times, and Vash was already knocked out and lying on the floor next to mom. I somehow managed to get the skillet from him and I swung it as best as I could. Lucky for me he was drunk, cause he was knocked right out.

That's when I picked Vash up and ran. I wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. I never want to go back to that man! Never again! Vash and I will live on our own without him to beat us!

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Rem was mortified. How could any human being do that to a human being, let alone his wife and their twin boys that were only nine years old. It was just too cruel. Something had to be done. But would anyone believe a hooker and two little beat-up boys?

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TBC?????

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CousinKitchen: Really depressing wasn't it?

Vash (storms in room): What in the world are you writing? I'm that much of a cry-baby!!!!

CousinKitchen (cringes): You did get beaten with a skillet you know...

Vash: STILL! And where are you expecting to go with this? I've read your other stories and you at least have a purpose in each of them, but in this one...

CousinKitchen: To tell you the truth, I really don't have a clue. I just wrote the first chapter. I figured that I'd think about it when I started the next chapter...

Vash (looks at CK with a skeptical look): OH...you mean like you've done with your original and Escaflowne fic? Am I going to be discontinued to?

CousinKitchen: Only time will tell.

Vash (sweat drops and turns to leave): You're cruel.

CousinKitchen (laughs maniacally): I know. Ohohohohohohohohoho(^o^)

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CousinKitchen: 

The ending commentary was uncharacteristically happy, but what the hay, I can't be depressing all the time.

Despite the mood it gave off, I hope you liked it. Feel free to review now! Should I continue? PLEASE REVIEW!


	2. No Sense of Mercy

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, just this sad sad story.

CousinKitchen: I don't know how I came up with the first chapter so don't be mad if the second chapter is extremely different. I tried only writing when I was in a bad mood like I did with ch. 1, but that didn't work out to well. What can I say? At least I finally updated, right? Right. Now read and enjoy! I command you!

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Hope For Life

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Chapter Two

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No Sense of Mercy

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Eight years later...

Vash tossed and turned in his bed, the harsh sun shining in his face, trying to awaken the tired teen. After an thirty minute struggle, the grumpy blonde finally gave in to the mocking light.

Ripping off his covers, the tall young man swung his feet over the edge of the makeshift bed and began to stretch his cramped limbs. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, it took a second or two for his vision to clear and catch the fact that his brother still had yet to return from the previous night.

"6:30?" He glanced at the clock on the floor. "I wish the sun had the sense to sleep in." With a final yawn he stood up and walked across the rough, cold floor and out the "bedroom" door. He was about to go into the bathroom to relieve himself when he noticed something moving in the front room of the disorganized apartment.

"Hello?" He wasn't sure who it was at first, but when he saw a head with short matted black hair, he knew exactly who it was. "Rem? Why are you on the couch?"

Rem shoved her hair out of her sore brown eyes. "Vash? What I'm wondering is why you're up."

Vash waved a hand as he turned to go into the bathroom. "Give me a second. Nature's calling. I'll be right with ya."

Rem glanced around her apartment. She wanted to know herself what she was doing on the lop-sided couch. The last thing that she remembered was leaving her job at the bar and suddenly feeling very weak. After a couple more minutes of confused silence, Vash appeared from the bathroom.

"It would appear that the sun hates to sleep in, so it wanted company. That and I would have had to get up in thirty more minutes to go to my last week of high school." The green-eyed boy walked across the room, gave Rem a hug, then headed to the "kitchen" to get breakfast.

"Want some eggs?" Vash had opened the door to the refrigerator and was shuffling things around, until Rem failed to respond. "Rem?" He closed the fridge door and stared at the spaced out woman. "Rem are you okay?"

The dark-haired woman snapped out of her trance the second time Vash called her name. "Uh...yeah. I was just thinking about something that happened yesterday at work. It's nothing."

The blonde boy gave a skeptical frown, but went back to fishing some eggs out of the fridge. "Well, in that case...do you want any eggs?"  
Rem smiled. "Yes Vash, I would love some eggs."

"How many? Two?" The green-eyed teen held up two eggs between his fingers.

"Two's fine." The older woman laughed at the young man that was trying hard to get her to cheer up. She knew that he had a feeling that something was wrong, but she wouldn't let him win this round. For the eight years that she had taken care of him and his brother, Vash has always been able to get her to admit her worries and secrets.

Unfortunately, as he got older, he was more knowledgeable about her occupation and somehow convinced her to stop selling herself. As of two weeks ago, she began a better job, working as a waitress in a bar. Though it still didn't pay enough and she still lived in the slums, it was a far cry from prostitution.

As much as she thought it would never happen, her life had changed for the better ever since Vash and Knives walked into it. That was until, Knives started to disappear frequently. Rem did try to pay attention to the bitter child, but he wouldn't have it. He would call her a whore or slut then run off. When the blue-eyed twin was twelve, he started coming back to the apartment early in the morning either high or with several cuts and bruises.

Though she was upset that he had become involved with the local gangs, it was the fact that Vash treated the whole situation like it wasn't happening that really hurt her. The green-eyed twin seemed oblivious of the facts and despite Knives calling him various foul names, the younger twin still loved him.

"As different as night and day..." Rem mumbled out loud.

"What's that Rem?" Vash looked over his shoulder at Rem sitting on the couch.

Again the woman smiled. "I'm sorry, just thinking about how much my life has changed since you and your brother came into it."

Vash gave a bright smile, but Rem saw something in the smile that she had never seen before. Though his smile was warm and bright, there was sadness in his eyes. "You never cease to amaze me."

Vash turned back to the stove. "What do you mean? Scrambled or fried?"

"Fried...I never really noticed before. "Rem untangled herself from the blanketing on the couch as she stumbled to get up. She started to feel a bit light headed, but stood up to walk to the table despite the faintness.

"Noticed what?" The tall blonde turned to the table, this time with a plate with two fried eggs on it. He himself had a plate of scrambled eggs and from the look of it, he had used the rest of the carton.

"One, you eat like a horse. I thought that we had a discussion about expenses a long time ago..."

The teen shrugged. "I know. I'm sorry. Won't do it again." He proceeded to pick up his fork and shovel in the contents.

Rem's smile faded as she watched Vash. How could she had missed it for eight years. Was he really that good at hiding it. "How long...?"

The short question stopped the twin with confusion. "What do you mean?"

Rem bowed her head as tears of sadness sprang to her eyes. "How long have you been this miserable? Is it because of me? I...I never noticed before, that whenever you smile, you cry on the inside."

Vash put down his fork as he stood up. He walked around the small square table to where Rem was sitting and knelt down before her, placing his hands over hers which were in her lap. Rem lifted her head and looked over into his sincere eyes. Vash then bowed his own head and suddenly released her hands to pull her in a tight embrace.

"Don't EVER think that it's you, cause it's not! I just don't know how to take the bad things in life so I just smile. It's not this or you! Never think that! If anything, I'm thankful for you. You try hard. I love you like you were my own mother..." The two sat like that for a good five minutes till Vash reluctantly pulled away. As always, he had a goofy smile plastered on his face. "Now I gotta get to school."

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Luckily for Vash, the school was only five blocks from the apartment. Though it wasn't classy, it served it's purposes. Just by looking at the ancient building, one would think that the street gangs would have torn it down by now, but like any other city school, there were too many police patrolling the place.

It was amazing how many kids there were in the run down part of town and how many actually were interested in going to classes. One of them was a teen around the same age as Vash being just a year older, Nicholas D. Wolfwood. A very strange kid. He already had a bad smoking problem which Vash, being the guy he was, tried to break him of. However, Wolfwood would never allow it.

The tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed young man was just a little shorter than the tall lanky blonde with the hair that always managed to defy gravity, but his wits made up for that difference. Though what was even stranger about the smoking smart-alack was that he vowed that he would one day become a priest. He claimed that at least one person in their little slice of Hell needed to devote themselves to God and that person would be him.

"HEY NEEDLE NOGGIN!!!" However another thing about Wolfwood was that he had no sense of decency. He was already yelling across the neighborhood at 7:30 in the morning.

Vash looked across the empty street at his waving friend. Of course Wolfwood was wearing his standard black shirt, slacks, and shoes with his cross necklace. "Hey Wolfwood, I bet the neighborhood appreciated their wake up call!"

"And what better way to wake up than to the voice of God!" Wolfwood shouted as he ran up to his good friend.

Vash shook his head as he continued to walk. "I don't know if I would say you're that powerful."

Wolfwood smirked and put a hand on Vash's shoulder. "Of course I am, I'm on God's side."

Vash pushed off Nick's hand. "And God doesn't mind the fact that you smoke?"

The dark-haired young man laughed as he pulled out a cigarette and lit it with his large silver lighter. "Well I'm not dead yet, so he must not hate me."

"Mr. Priest!!" A familiar feminine voice came from behind interrupting the two and making them turn around to face the new comer.

"Millie Thompson! How are you doing this morning!" Wolfwood exclaimed as he grabbed the taller girl in a big hug.

Millie's big blue eyes shined with happiness. She loved it each time Wolfwood hugged her. Vash had an inkling that the girl loved his best friend, but for the sake of her privacy he said nothing to Wolfwood.

"Hey Millie! You look extremely happy today! Mind if I ask why?" Vash smiled as the brunette finally released the would-be priest.

"I think it's mostly because it's the last week of school Mr. Vash! That and my family isn't going to move anymore so now I get to stay with the two of you! Or at least that is until I manage to get into college..."

"So tell me big girl, what college do you have an eye on?"

The smile that was on Millie's face grew wider at her favorite persons inquiry. "Well...I don't really know. I'm thinking, maybe a small two year college at the most."

"No clue which one?" Vash inquired.

"Nope!" The young woman chorused.

Both Vash and Wolfwood looked at each other with looks saying that they both were not surprised by Millie's answer.

"Mr. Vash?" Millie turned her attention to the blonde that had started to walk in the direction of the school.

"Yes?" Vash stopped and turned to face Millie who had a look on her face that he was unable to read.

"Have you...seen Knives lately?"

"No." Vash was about to ask why when he noticed that Wolfwood also had the same expression on his face. "Is there...something wrong?"

Millie shook her head. "No, don't worry about it. I'm sure he will be home tonight."

Vash just shrugged and continued on to the school, not noticing the worried looks that Millie and Wolfwood were sharing.

*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*`*

School seemed long to Vash with all the reviewing they were doing for the finals that they would start that week.

"Friday. The insanity will end on Friday..." Vash had been mumbling the same thing to himself over and over ever since the last bell had rung. He was now halfway home and on his own since Millie had invited Wolfwood over to her house to study. Though the blonde knew that not much studying would be happening. He would of liked it if it was due to the couple's attraction to each other, but knew that all the distraction would come from Millie's younger siblings. All nine of them.

"Vash!" A hoarse voice broke Vash's train of thought. He turned around to see Knive's sickly friend Midvalley. Midvalley was dark-haired boy with empty dark eyes to match his skin and bones appearance. His clothes were always miss-matched and looked as though the boy had stepped out of a 70s clothes catalog.

Vash wished that he hadn't run into him and would have just ignored the high school dropout had it not been for the head of Knive's gang, Legato, a taller young man with hair dyed gray, standing just behind him, leaning against the brick wall of the alley that he was passing. "What do you want Midvalley? I haven't seen Knives around so I don't know where he is..."

"He's at home, but he's not what we were wanting to talk about."

"He's not?" Vash started to take small steps back, hoping that maybe he could get out of the situation that he knew he would be getting into very soon.

"Vash." Legato's smooth voice came from behind his little henchman. Legato was sporting his usual black trench coat and heavy black boots. His appearance somewhat reminded him of a devil. "Knives is worried about you..."

Vash continued to back up. "I...know."

Legato's face split into a smile. He always found it enjoyable when he intimidated someone, so he decided to add to the fun by moving closer to Vash. "We're worried about you too Vash..."

Vash wanted out now. He knew that Legato and Midvalley weren't alone. He could feel all of the pairs of eyes on him. It was making him uneasy and bringing back a lot of vivid memories.

"What's the matter Vash?" Midvalley cooed as he too started towards Vash. "Are you feeling scared Vash? Are you petrified? Do you want your mommy?"

"I...I'm not scared of you!" Vash bellowed at the two, stopping them with surprise.

"Oh?" Legato took another step forward causing Vash to jump ever so slightly proving that he was still scared. "I do believe you're bluffing."

Vash took a deep breath and gathered his wits. "I am NOT scared of you! If you hurt me you will lose Knives' loyalty and..."

"Lose Knives?" Legato raised a critical eyebrow. "What makes you think that you being hurt would make us loose Knives? We own him..."

"You don't own me! And if you touch my bother, there WILL be hell to pay!"

The trio all turned to see the newcomer behind Vash. He was almost a mirror of Vash, only with shorter, messier hair and ice-cold blue eyes.

Legato smiled. "I was sure that after last night you had demonstrated your true loyalty to us. We do own you Knives..."

Knives shook his head. "Just get out of here and take all your cronies with you..."

Legato's smile didn't falter as he signaled for his gang to leave. Midvalley was the one to remain behind with Legato, standing just behind him. "Will we see you tonight Knives?"

Knives didn't say anything. He only turned to his brother signaling him to follow. Legato and Midvalley disappeared during the exchange between the brothers.

Knives looked at his brother sternly as soon as Vash managed to catch up to him. "What the hell are you doing walking home on your own? What happened to your priest friend?"

Vash frowned at his brother. "You know as well as I do that Wolfwood being there wouldn't have helped any..."

"You are an idiot, you know that? You don't even know your own friends."

"What do you mean by that?"

Knives shook his head and stopped walking. "Nothing, but right now I have things to go take care of..."

Vash looked at his brother with concern. Knives automatically knew what his brother was thinking. "Don't worry, it's not with them..."

Vash smiled. "That's good...and thanks."

Knives gave a shadow of a smile before he turned to cross the street. When he got to the other side, Vash suddenly remembered something and shouted over to his brother. "Did you see Rem when you stopped at home? She's worried about you, you know!"

Knives turned around with a dark expression on his face. "Yeah? Well let her worry!" His dark expression faded and was replaced with and odd smirk. "See ya later Vash!"

Vash sighed as he headed towards the chipping concrete steps of the apartment building that he lived in. Knives was definitely different. His moods always changing. But at least today he seemed clean, that was definitely a new one to him. The stairs leading Vash up creaked under his foot falls, moaning and groaning against the weight placed on them.

The young twin felt somewhat relaxed when he entered the confines of the small apartment that he left in a hurry in the morning. Everything was how he left it, even the breakfast plates. Though that wasn't right. He knew that Rem would have normally cleaned those up.

"Rem?" Vash's voice echoed through the seemingly empty apartment. He received no answer. "Rem? Are you home?"

A faint squeak of bed sprigs came from the bed room followed by bare feet padding along the floor. Vash started towards the bedroom just as the feet faulted and a loud thump sounded through the apartment.

"Rem?" Vash called again as he entered the messy room. He found Rem on the floor looking confused and dazed. "REM! Are you okay?"

Rem's eyes looked at the blonde with no recognition. Vash was starting to get really worried. "Rem! It's me Vash! Are you okay!"

The name seemed to click in the woman's mind causing her brown eyes to mist. "Vash? I..." She didn't get to say much before she past out in Vash's arms.

Vash looked at her with panic, shaking her, trying to get a response out of her. He noticed her hair plastered to her forehead from sweat and her clothes soaked and clinging to her body. Vash placed the back of his hand to her forehead, feeling her skin burn under his touch. Something was wrong. 

The tall blonde couldn't think clearly so he just scooped the woman up and ran out of the apartment building and down the street. He had to get to the hospital and he had to get there quick.

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To Be Continued...

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CK: Well, I updated. YEA!!! Let us celebrate with a review shall we? It's that nice little button on the bottom of the screen!

Also if any of the names are misspelled, please tell me so that I may fix my mistakes in the next few chapters. Thanks! Ja ne! (^_^)


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